(Another) Title in Progress
by oni-neko ninja
Summary: FMA '03, University AU. Scar is an angry college student who made a mistake in class selections. Al is assigned to try to help him get back on track... but will grades be the only thing they work on? "Rare Pair Week," day 5. Title is a WIP, I'm afraid.


Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just borrowing Arakawa-sensei's characters for a little while.

Prompt: Day 5. University AU.

A.N.: Sorry; late again. Life is full of distractions xP ...and unfortunately I'm fairly certain the remaining prompts for "Rare Pair Week" — as well as any continuations — will have to wait until later this week at the earliest.

Scar/Al is another of my favorite **FMA** pairings (regardless which series). The chemistry between the two in canon is just... Idk, it's great in my mind x3

All character designs are referenced from **FMA** '03 this time, and Ed has his automail.

I apologize ahead of time if anyone is OOC at all.

Also; rating may change depending how things go in future chapters.

* * *

Scar growled lowly to himself in frustration. ' _I don't need a damned tutor. The course material isn't_ that _difficult._ '

Or that's what he told himself, at least. As much as he hated admitting it, even just to himself, he was having trouble in chemistry and that _damned_ advanced algebra... It was by no means related to his brainpower — he was _not_ stupid, after all — but the levels of the courses he'd picked for that semester had been chosen in error. He felt left behind in certain areas of both...

...and he didn't like it.

When he'd asked his professors how he could improve, they had nudged him towards getting help from a tutor of some sort in both subjects. "Tutoring" wasn't something he'd ever needed before, so of course he was reluctant at first.

But then he found himself (reluctantly) going to his chemistry professor, Roy Mustang, for a clue on who to ask... He was promptly introduced to a pair of fellow students who looked just slightly younger than him.

One, he knew from his English class — Edward Elric. The other face was new, however.

Ed, for his part, was surprised to hear that _Scar_ was the one Mustang had told them about. He raised a brow. "What could _you_ need help with? You always seem on top of things in class."

Scar was reluctant, but after a moment, he sighed, grounding out, "Chemistry and algebra are giving me some trouble." He didn't want to elaborate.

Roy cleared his throat quietly. "Okay; so, which of you two," he asked as he looked between Ed and his brother, "is going to help him out?"

At that, Ed turned to leave the room without a moment's delay, waving them all off with his flesh arm. "If _I_ try to help Scar, we'll just end up spending the whole time sparring... I leave it to you, Al."

"What? Really?" Al looked up in surprise, his tan ponytail bouncing a bit with the motion. "You sure?"

"Yup! Have fun!" he said with a light laugh before closing the door behind him.

Roy looked between Al and Scar now. "Any objections?"

"None from me, Professor," Al replied.

Scar simply shook his head, although he was inwardly somewhat doubtful that a fellow student who appeared to be at least two years younger than him could help much.

"That's settled, then... now if you'll both excuse me, I have work to do," Roy said as he returned to his desk with a frown.

There was a moment of quiet before Al went over to Scar and held out his hand with a smile. "I don't know how well you know Brother... but I'm Alphonse Elric."

' _So they're brothers? Now I know who Edward refers to so often._ ' Scar shook the offered hand, despite the action feeling slightly awkward to him. "...Scar... and I don't actually know him as well as you might be thinking."

Al, still smiling, hummed a bit as he leaned in a bit to talk more quietly then. "I think we should leave... I don't want to disturb Mr. Mustang." He could practically hear his brother sassing, ' _Don't you mean disturbing him_ more _?_ '

Scar nodded in agreement, and they both headed for the door.

* * *

Some days later, Scar and Al met up in the campus library sometime in the afternoon.

"Okay. So which subject do you want to get into first?" Al asked as he grabbed a pencil and notebook, situating himself.

Scar looked between his math and science books for a moment before deciding. "I think I want to get a start on the algebra... besides; some of the chem work requires a lab setup, and I don't feel like risking blowing up the library." He opened the math book to the appropriate page and settled to get to work.

Al nodded. "That's completely understandable."

A good few hours passed with Scar going through a number of his assignments in both subjects. Al, meanwhile, switched between getting some of his own work out of the way and observing quietly. He only ever intentionally interrupted to offer a piece of advice here and there or help Scar to correct a mistake. And considering what he'd been told of Scar's usually angry-but-quiet attitude, Al considered himself lucky that he wasn't on the list of things Scar wanted to destroy out of frustration at not being able to fix those mistakes without help.

The only real interruption that came up was the eventual growling of a stomach, which pulled Scar from his concentration and caused him to look up with a raised eyebrow.

The light brunet next to him shrunk into himself a little in embarrassment. "...sorry... I guess I didn't eat enough at lunch today."

Scar shook his head, but not in an angry manner this time. "That's one thing that appears to be a default in Elrics... the need for food is forgotten when attention is elsewhere."

"Oh, believe me, I know. Do you have any idea how often I have to force Ed to eat something because he ignored his stomach for too long?"

"I don't think I want to." Scar closed his notebook then, though. He was starting to remember how hungry he was, as well. "Should we take a break to eat?"

Al leaned back in his chair to stretch out his arms. "...probably a good idea... What time is it, anyway?"

Scar checked his phone. "...almost nine."

Al faltered and blinked at him. "Seriously? We've been here that long?"

"Apparently." Scar was just as surprised as Al.

Just then, Al's own phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and checked it curiously, to find a text from Ed.

' _...not usually the type to ask this, but where are you? Safe, right?_ '

Al responded, ' _Yeah, I'm OK. Sorry, Brother. Lost track of time helping Scar and getting some of my own work done ^^;_ '

' _Okay... I don't have to worry, do I?_ ' Ed sent.

Al stared at his phone, somewhat mortified at that question.

' _About what?_ ' he replied after a minute.

Al's phone buzzed again. ' _Eh, never mind. Even if something_ did _happen, it's none of my business._ '

Scar was done packing up his stuff by then, and found himself watching Al for the better part of the last couple minutes.

' _How dare you insinuate things? =.=; ...I'll be home soon enough._ ' Al tucked his phone back in his pocket after that, then looked at Scar. "Hm?"

The Ishvalan blinked, then shook his head. "Nothing... should we go someplace, or would it be better to just split off here?"

Al thought on it for a minute before an idea came to him. "Hold on a sec." He retrieved his phone again and texted Ed, ' _Mind if Scar comes over for a late dinner? We both kinda forgot to eat... ^^;_ '

' _Fine by me. You cooking?_ ' came Ed's reply. He could practically see Ed shaking his head with a knowing smile.

' _Yeah. You haven't emptied the fridge, have you?_ '

' _What do you take me for? o.o_ '

' _Thanks._ ' Al physically shook his head at his brother. "He's a bit ridiculous."

Scar gave him a look. "You're just realizing this now?"

"No, but I keep getting reminders..." He put his phone away once again, and looked at the table to see all of Scar's stuff was cleared away. "Ready to go?" he asked as he proceeded to put his own stuff back in his bag.

The look that was then on Scar's face portrayed confusion.

Al sat back up in his chair to look at him. "Well, I meant in general, but..."

"But?"

"I was also kind of wondering if you wanted to come over." Al looked away somewhat nervously. "I'm probably gonna end up cooking something anyway; so do you want to?"

"Ah... I suppose there's no reason why I can't," Scar replied after a second of consideration.

"Cool." Al smiled, standing with his bag now. "Shall we? It's not that long a walk."

Scar nodded as he followed suit. "Sure."

* * *

I have more written, but I think I'll just break it off here.


End file.
